4C Exhibition 2023 Q4 Borders
The exhibiting artists offer unique perspectives on personal identity within the context of the times.
Words by Yangyang Li
A Landscape Study
In Hua Yutong's multi-media installation-performance work "A Landscape Study", she uses ready-made materials to create a quasi-geographical landscape from an overhead perspective. She smashed the material panels with a hammer in random patterns, placed the pieces into a pool of water, and poured them with grey liquid. These combined materials
ultimately form a miniature geographical landscape. In the narration of the video, an English female voice tells how to interpret the images of similar landform features generated by these materials in a geographical way. Geographic phenomena usually accumulate over tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands or tens of millions of years, and in this image of several minutes, it only takes a few seconds for a liquid erosion to cover it. By replacing the almost eternity of time in history and memory with moments, the artist seems to be exploring the complex relationship between time, memory, symbols and experience. It is a kind of tracing of symbols, and it is also a kind of reverse alchemy practice.
In "Mother", Liu He explores the complex relationship between humans and nature, expressing his deep understanding of the natural world and his deep thoughts on the role of humans in the ecosystem. Here, nature is personified, humans are animalized, and the role reversal reveals a new perspective. The eyes of the characters in the work symbolise the earth, the hair is like spreading roots, and the flowers symbolise vitality. Yet these characters reveal a deep sadness and numbness, conveying that despite the natural prosperity and beauty we see, devastation may lie beneath. The bird in the painting symbolises numb humanity, living in a nest built by its mother's hair. The existence of the bird's nest also reminds us that our specific place in nature and our actions often lead to the destruction of ecosystems. "Mother" calls for thinking about the relationship between man and nature. How should we define the balance between us and nature?
母亲
燃烧
In He Jinghan's oil paintings, abstract background images interact with the silhouettes of wild beasts. The artist examines and analyses his own heart through the process of creation, and regards it as a healing process, "gradually peeling off his defences and facing the beast in my heart." In the painting, the fragility and strength formed by colour and blank space are just like the inherent multifaceted nature of people's hearts. The artist shows his inner self as the image of a beast to form a symbolic self-portrait. The flame in the painting is also an important element - as the artist said, the flame symbolises nirvana, the artist's liberation and sublimation from his early experiences, and it is also a representative of the flow and externalisation of emotions. After the accumulation of secret emotions, the artist presents his personal narrative through these beasts that are both moving and silent, roaring but silent.
SpaceV
The works of interdisciplinary designers Wang Tiange and Huang Yiyang explore emerging design trends and experiences brought about by digitalization, involving new urban design, innovative retail experiences and multi-sensory data experiences. The innovative project "SpaceV" provides a digital space retail system for future city residents, dedicated to supporting and promoting personalised health understanding and experience. Its core lies in an interactive service system. Users can book different spaces according to their needs, such as fitness, meditation, rest, dining and relaxation. This solution not only meets the fragmented needs of urban life, but also provides a private space anytime and anywhere, promoting physical and mental health. "SpaceV" triggered in-depth thinking: How can we conceive of a complete experience blueprint at the intersection of automated retail systems and future urban healthy space design? If a vending machine evolved into a building, how would it change our urban landscape, create unique experiences and tell new stories?
Zhu Yijie's series of images present private emotions into bizarre images. Violence, love, anger, regret, fear...these emotions are like layers of air that are everywhere and separate each character, floating in the boundless space with nowhere to hide. In dream-like scenes, these emotions are transformed into poetic representations, taking the audience on a journey to face their hearts. To this extent, she transforms negative personal emotions into something we can relate to. Compared to the isolated images in the film that do not interfere with each other and are isolated from each other, perhaps what she wants to express is that “everyone is not an island”.
Watching Me
In Jiang Xiaohan's paintings, the abstract brushstrokes, colours and images construct a world where nature, memory and culture are intertwined with eccentricities. As strange and beautiful as everything in the Peach Blossom Spring, the images in Jiang Xiaohan's paintings reflect a strange light through the medium of the soul. In the dizziness of bright pink, cobalt blue, and golden yellow, the audience entered an imaginary other world, as if in the dark, the eyes of forest dwellers shimmered and stared at us quietly.
The Judgement In Winter
The Trace of Time Breathing
Hu Youyou's 3D printing installation "The Trace of Time Breathing" is inspired by traditional Chinese sculptures and ceramics, and includes elements of traditional Chinese mythology and ghosts. The faces and body parts of various ghosts and gods are used as the "outer wall" bricks of the installation. Present. In front of the shimmering device, the audience is faced with a cultural image that spans thousands of years, and a spiritual soul that has been passed down for centuries. The passing time seems to be holding its breath at this moment. Hu Youyou's works aim to awaken the audience's sense of belonging and respect for culture and history. At the same time, the artist also raises questions about the intricate relationship between ancient and contemporary times, collective and individual.
In Zhang Xiaoyu's "Colourful Revolution", the image of the Temple of Heaven, the fanatical crowd and the style of American animation are unrelated elements - when put together, they provide a space for reflection. At a time when unfamiliar styles and intimate scenes intertwine, politicised images become the medium responsible for information exchange. However, these mixed elements are not seamless, but make the audience always feel uneasy and unable to fully trust the medium of vision and painting. The meaning the artist wants to convey is that in an era of conflicting ideologies, people cannot fully trust the medium of information sources.
Colorful Revolution
Our Art Panel
The works exhibited in "Borders" are based on different artistic media and provide a dimension of thinking about all aspects of modern personal and social life. Emerging Chinese-American artists interrogate various boundaries and interpret the existence of human beings at the intersection of private life, history and culture, reflecting the breadth and depth of Chinese-American contemporary art, as well as the exhibiting artists offer unique perspectives on personal identity within the context of the times. 4C Gallery focuses on the exhibition of conceptual art, and the focus of these exhibited works is their concepts. It is concepts that make it possible to analyse emotions, nature, history, etc. 4C Gallery will continue to support such artistic thinking and practice and provide Chinese artists with a space for display and a bridge of communication.
In the current turmoil of global culture, individual connections to self, other, society, and national history are becoming blurred. We live in an era that has transformed borders from fixed entities into ever-changing fluid formations. Against this background, the works in the group exhibition "Borders", which opened at 4C Gallery in Los Angeles on November 11, raise a series of thought-provoking questions for us: Where are the boundaries of emotion? Where is the dividing line between abstract and concrete memory? What defines our boundary with the natural world? How are national consciousness, language and political boundaries drawn, and can they be breached? The exhibition further explores the role of art in cross-cultural dialogue, especially in public spaces within multicultural contexts.